Evangelii Gaudium: Just when some of you thought you knew WDTPRS ...

What Did The Pope Really Say - that is.

The Holy Father's Apostolic Exhortation has been released. 

The Pope invites the reader to “recover the original freshness of the Gospel”,


The Pope indicates the “temptations which affect pastoral workers” (77): “individualism, a crisis of identity and a cooling of fervour” (78). The greatest threat of all is “the grey pragmatism of the daily life of the Church, in which all appears to proceed normally, which in reality faith is wearing down” (83). He warns against “defeatism” (84), urging Christians to be signs of hope (86), bringing about a “revolution of tenderness” (88). It is necessary to seek refuge from the “spirituality of well-being … detached from responsibility for our brothers and sisters” (90) and to vanquish the “spiritual worldliness” that consists of “seeking not the Lord’s glory but human glory and well-being” (93). The Pope speaks of the many who “feel superior to others” because “they remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past” whereby “instead of evangelizing, one analyses and classifies others” (94). And those who have “an ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy, for doctrine and for the Church’s prestige, but without any concern that the Gospel have a real impact” on the needs of the people (95). This is “a tremendous corruption disguised as a good … God save us from a worldly Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings!” (97). -  Vatican Radio

Perhaps some people will be upset - maybe not.  I hope not.

Nearly every time I read something the Holy Father says, I recall the disciples responding to Christ "At last you are speaking plainly and not in parables... - John 16:29

I really think it is a mistake to try and figure out, “About whom is the Pope talking in this phrase?” and also, “What does that really mean?”

In short, the Pope is talking about the Church - you and me and the other guy.  What does that really mean?

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful."⁴⁰² "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."⁴⁰³ - CCC

Fr. James Martin, S. J. has an enthusiastic review here. And here.